Chapter 6 - THE AUDIT
By Thursday morning, the corporate fallout at Ruta Norte Logistics had escalated from an internal firing to a full-scale federal investigation. Armed with the comprehensive financial audit my forensic accountants had compiled overnight, federal investigators arrived at the regional branch with search warrants, seizing hard drives, corporate ledgers, and communication logs. The employees watched in stunned silence as boxes of evidence were hauled out of the executive suites. The narrative that Alejandro was a brilliant self-made director completely collapsed as news outlets picked up the story, exposing his systematic embezzlement of company funds to finance his mother’s lavish lifestyle and luxury real estate purchases in Puebla.
Teresa’s phone began ringing incessantly. Her high-society friends—women who had spent years flattering her at charity luncheons while secretly mocking her vulgar displays of wealth—were suddenly blocking her number or hanging up mid-sentence. The country club suspended her membership due to "unresolved billing discrepancies." Even her closest confidantes didn't want to be associated with a family embroiled in corporate fraud and federal grand larceny. Desperate, Teresa decided to take matters into her own hands. Ignoring Alejandro’s frantic warnings, she drove a rented, dented compact car straight to the headquarters of Ruta Norte Logistics, determined to demand an audience with me face-to-face.
